BUKIT MERTAJAM - The medical needs of mainland residents will be better served when the Seberang Jaya Hospital’s new RM400mil multi-storey building is completed in 2018, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

“The federal project will start as soon as possible and is scheduled to be completed in 42 months. The building is needed to give Seberang Jaya residents and those from the northern region better service.

“This is one of the 13 projects costing RM800mil in total to be undertaken in Penang by the Health Ministry under the 10th Malaysia Plan.

“The Penang Hospital will also be getting a new RM250mil block for its Women and Child unit, while the Balik Pulau Hospital’s forensic department will be upgraded,” he told a press conference in Seberang Jaya yesterday.

Muhyiddin said these projects showed that Penang was never overlooked despite being in the Opposition’s hands since 2008.

Muhyiddin also said that Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail would not be a suitable MP for Permatang Pauh as she was seen as an “outsider”.

He said as Dr Wan Azizah was also Kajang assemblyman in Selangor, she would not always be in Permatang Pauh, unlike Barisan Nasional candidate Suhaimi Sabudin.

“If I were a voter, I would expect my representative to be here all the time and not in Kajang where she is the assemblyman.

“She needs to be in Permatang Pauh in the event of floods or a di­sease outbreak,” Muhyiddin add­ed.

He said Suhaimi was a local boy and would be able to give his best to voters, adding that Dr Wan Azizah’s track record in Kajang was not very good.

Meanwhile, in Kubang Semang, Dr Wan Azizah said she would not face problems being an MP and assemblyman in separate states.

As PKR president, she said she could get party members to help look after the Permatang Pauh constituency in her absence.

“I even have the right to order my deputy (PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali) to represent me, particularly in Kajang.

“So, there is no problem looking after the seat,” she said after a function at the Masjid Saidina Abu Bakar.

Source: The Star